Jury deliberating in trial of Stockbridge husband

Nearly two years ago, a couple driving to work found the wreckage of a car in a thicket of trees along a rural Ingham County road.

A blanket had been draped over the crumpled remains of the car’s driver’s side. The blanket concealed the body of 25-year-old Shayla Watchmaker in the back seat. She died from blunt-force injuries including a crushed and lacerated spleen, and a lacerated liver and lung.

Her husband, 30-year-old Samuel Watchmaker III of Stockbridge, had left the scene, walking about a mile to his stepfather’s house.

Prosecutors say Samuel Watchmaker was driving the Chevrolet Cavalier in the early morning hours of Oct. 5, 2012, speeding at more than 70 mph when he lost control and crashed in Bunker Hill Township.

Samuel Watchmaker’s attorney, Michelle Shannon, told jurors Thursday during closing arguments that it was his wife who was driving.

Jurors on Thursday began deliberations in the trial, which is in Ingham County Circuit Court before Judge Joyce Draganchuk. The trial began last week. Watchmaker faces charges including reckless driving causing death and driving under the influence of marijuana causing death.

Watchmaker told deputies that, after the crash, he and his wife both crawled into the back seat and went to sleep. When he woke up, he told them, Shayla was dead.

“He always was in the passenger seat in that relationship,” Shannon said, adding that her client’s version of events has always been consistent.

“She’s flying down road, 90 to 100 mph, she blew through the stop sign and lost control,” Shannon said. Shayla Watchmaker was found to have high levels of narcotics in her system.

Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Randy Behrmann told jurors that the evidence at the scene points to Samuel Watchmaker as the driver.

Samuel Watchmaker’s blood was found in several places in the front seat, including the steering wheel and the windshield, where his head apparently struck, Behrmann said. Little evidence of his wife was found in the front seat. Samuel Watchmaker’s blood also was found dripping on the door outside where her body was found.

Behrmann noted that as Samuel Watchmaker walked the mile to his stepfather’s house, he passed several houses along the way.

“Is that what a reasonable person does — a reasonable husband does for his wife?” he said, adding: “How can you be in this kind of a crash and look at your wife — forget about internal injuries you can’t see — and not realize you need to get her some help.”